Pederson cut his football teeth at ULM

Philadelphia Eagles new head coach Doug Pederson talks to the media during a press conference at the NovaCare Complex. Doug played quarterback at then-Northeast Louisiana University from 1987-1990 and his brother Craig was a tight end from 1989-92.(Photo: Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports)

The Pederson brothers face a critical dilemma between now and next football season.

One that’s easy to solve when your older brother becomes an NFL head coach, but a dilemma nonetheless.

Now that the celebration of Doug Pederson’s hire as the new head coach of the Philadelphia Eagles has died down among the euphoric masses in North Louisiana, what are they supposed to go with a closet full of Kansas City Chiefs gear?

“I guess David and I are going to have to switch teams again, but that’s OK. We’re just so proud of him,” Craig Pederson said. “It’s always been Doug’s goal to be a head coach in the NFL and he’s worked his butt off to make it happen.

“Now all we can do is put on some green, wish him the best and hope it all works out.”

The burgeoning coaching silly season that sends even the best from the Super Bowl to Siberia had Craig concerned in October. Doug and the rest of Andy Reid’s KC staff were rumored to be on the chopping block after a 1-5 start, but the Chiefs squashed that talk with an 11-game winning streak, post-season berth and playoff win.

November brought with it more job speculation at ULM, where Doug and Craig both playing college football, and another set of complications. As an alum and softball dad — Craig’s daughter Victoria is continuing the family tradition on campus — he decided neutrality was the best approach.

“There was a lot of talk with the ULM deal but I just decided to hang out and let it work itself out and it did,” Craig said. “With him being in the playoffs, I figured he had enough on his hands and he didn’t need to hear from me or anyone else talking about it.”

Doug Pederson’s path to the NFL began the day his father wandered into the football offices of then-Northeast Louisiana University in 1987. As is to be expected from a man relocating his family from Ferndale, Washington, to Monroe, Gordon Pederson didn’t know very much about this strange land and its predilection to football.

What Gordon did know was Doug could throw a football and had some scholarship offers from schools in the Pacific Northwest, so he got in his car and took off across 1-20 to find his son a place to play.

“He just showed up out of the blue one day and said he was being transferred here and wanted to visit with me about his son,” ULM Hall of Fame football coach Pat Collins said. “He had some film with him I’m so I gave it to Bob Lane to look at and told him to come back after lunch.

“Of course at the time I was thinking, ‘here we go,’ but Bob swung that door open after about five minutes and told me I needed to come take a look at this.”

At the time, ULM was having success churning out quarterbacks, including Lane — who played for the Birmingham Stallions of the USFL before joining Collins’ staff as quarterbacks coach — Pittsburgh Steelers draftee Bubby Brister and eventual San Diego Charger Stan Humphries, who was on campus.

Lane and a revamped offensive staff that featured Willie Ragan, Roger Carr and J.B. Grimes were in the process of moving ULM to the one back offense — the space age scheme of the 1980s — and saw Doug as heir apparent in that lineage.

“That was like a gift from God just handed over to us,” Lane said. “Usually when someone comes walking in your door 99 times out of 100 it’s a waste of time, but it didn’t take us long to figure out this was the one.”

When Gordon got back to Malone Stadium, Collins had a scholarship waiting for Doug, but on the condition that they didn’t visit any more schools — particularly the one in Ruston with the blue uniforms.

That put an end to the Pederson family regional tour.

“That turned out to be a heck of a deal for us and for ULM,” Collins said. “Doug was a heck of a player for us in the short amount of time I had him and I couldn’t be happier to see one of my guys get a shot in the NFL.”

Collins only coached Doug for one season in 1988 — where he split time under center with Walt Phythian. Pederson spent the majority of career as an NLU Indian played for Dave Roberts and was the team’s leading passer from 1988-90.

His record of 46 completions on 71 attempts for 619 yards and five touchdowns against Stephen F. Austin in 1989 still stands as the best single-game performance ever by a ULM quarterback.

“Doug was very tough minded as a player,” Lane said. “He comes off as an easy-going guy but he played the game with the demeanor of a linebacker. He wasn’t real outrageous or loud but there was never any question who was in charge on the practice field.”

From ULM, Doug moved on to arguably the two best jobs in the NFL — backing up Dan Marino with the Miami Dolphins and serving as Brett Favre’s understudy in Green Bay.

Pederson retired from pro football following the 2004 season and began his coaching career by taking the head coaching job at Calvary Baptist in Shreveport. He returned to the NFL with the Eagles in 2009, working his way up from quality control to quarterback coach and eventually offensive coordinator with Reid in Kansas City.

Without NFL Sunday Ticket at his disposal, Craig doesn’t usually get to see his brother’s exploits in real time unless it’s a national broadcast. He will continue to pay attention from afar though, but now that might be tougher than ever.

“It’ll be tougher now because the way the team goes is the way it’ll go for him. That’s the life of a head coach,” Craig said.

“You’re never going to satisfy everyone but once those fans in Philly see what Doug is capable of they’re going to get behind him.”